Fotis Nikolapolous (FreeJazzblog) on Shadow Figures by Spaces Unfolding + Pierre Alexandre Tremblay

The trio of Spaces Unfolding (Emil Karlsen on drums, Neil Metcalfe on flute, Philipp Wachsmann on violin) has been reviewed here on this site before and was, still is, a main feature on the resurrection of the great Bead Records. This trio channels the very essence of the experimental ethos in music, using improvisational techniques and practices as a means to a collective feeling about music. It’s not an easy task and they make it even more difficult for themselves by adding the complex electronics of Pierre Alexandre Tremblay. To clarify things, by more difficult I mean that, always, adding another person takes time and energy to continue in the same vein. Improvisation is demanding, that’s why its fruits are so juicy.

The presence of Tremblay marks a shift in the jazz based free improv stance of the trio. He helps create atmospheres where the respected instruments of the trio move freely without any hesitation. I’m, as a listener but also as someone who feels that the less amplification the better nowadays, quite skeptical about the use of electronics in any kind of freely improvised musics. Apart from my latter comment, electronics can easily saturate the music, leaving the acoustic nature of it behind, making it many times barely inaudible.

But on Shadow Figures this isn’t the case, quite the opposite. It seems that Tremblay’s use of the ambience of the recording space opened up new possibilities for them. Both the violin and the drums seem to be ever-expanding in every audio way is possible. The duo of Wachsmann and Karlsen offer the listener an alternative way to hear. The percussive nature of the violin (sounds from its body and strings) is at the forefront, while Karlsen’s playing is full of ideas, gestures and small scale energetic playing. Metcalfe’s flute is a part of the electronic dialect between him and Tremblay’s humble use of electronics.  In some tracks, like the two part Refractions, Tremblay takes the upper hand, transforming Shadow Figures into almost an ambient record. But that’s one of the facets of the quartet’s music. Quite thrillingly there are many of them, and in terms of listening and exploring this CD is one of the most demanding I’ve listened to the whole year. One of the best and most rewarding too.

Tony Dudley Evans (independent)

Shadow Fig

Tony Dudley Evans (independent)

Shadow Figures features the improvising trio, Spaces Unfolding, led by Emil Karlsen on drums with Philip Wachsmann on violin and Neil Metcalfe on flute; two well established and brilliant improvisers in Wachsmann anbd Metcalfe joined by the young drummer Karlsen, from Norway, who has settled in the UK after studying with Mark Sanders and others in Leeds. There are some fine passages with these three, but what makes this album special is the addition of Pierre Alexandre Tremblay on electronics. On the sleeve notes Karlsen speaks of his admiration for the work of Tremblay and his ‘acute sensibility as a performer’.

Here Tremblay adds something special to the interactions creating an ambient and slightly mysterious air to the music. His role varies; at time he lays down an electronic backing to the improvisations of the trio creating a setting that clearly inspires the trio; at other points he becomes an equal member of the quartet interacting with the other members of the group. The first track, Shadow Figures Pt 1 is interesting in this regard in that Tremblay intially creates a kind of drone to back the violin and then the flute and drums, but half way through the 10 minute track his role changes and he plays a more active role in the improvisation.

The role of the electronics as an equal member of the quartet interacting with the other members of the group is the one that dominates throughout the album, so, for example, there are three duo tracks under the title of In Praise of Shadows where Tremblay plays in a duet with one of the trio. The final track where Tremblay plays in duo with Karlsen is particularly impressive.

The collective improvisations with all four members of the quartet work well with each player contributing short phrases to the interaction and building intriguing abstract passages of improvisation. The electronics and the drums underpin it all with Karlsen’s short punchy phrases on the drums particularly effective, and Tremblay’s sensitive reactions creating very different layers of sound compared with a more acoustic approach. A good example of what is meant here is the opening of In Praise of Shadows Pt 1 where the combination of violin and electronics in a fast unison line is stunning.

The album forms part of the celebrations of the 50th anniversary of Bead Records, the label founded by Philip Wachsmann and Matthew Hutchinson in 1974. Since then the label has recorded 40 titles involving 60 musicians. Emil Karlsen is playing an increasing role in the running of the label and many excellent new recordings are being issued.

Since graduating from Leeds Conservatory Karlsen has become a real force on the UK improvised music scene, and we are lucky to have him in the UK. He is touring at the moment with Dominic Lash on bass, playing with a different horn player at each gig. Last Sunday they played an outstanding gig at Centrala (Fizzle) with Paul Dunmall on tenor and soprano saxophones plus clarinet. Then they played with John Butcher in Bristol on 28th October and Merthyr Tydfil on the 29th. Tonight (30th October) they are playing with Chris Cundy in Cheltenham, and they will play with John Butcher at the Ad-Lb venue in London on 2nd November.

Eyal Hareuveni (Percorsimusicali)

Spaces Unfolding is the acoustic, free improvising trio of flutist Neil Metcalfe, known for his work with Evan Parker, Paul Dunmall and the London Improvisers Orchestra, violinist Philipp Wachsmann (who established The Bead Label in 1974), fellow close associate of

Evan Parker, who also plays with the London Improvisers Orchestra and King Übü Örchestrü, and Norwegian-born, generation younger drummer Emil Karlsenm, who also plays in the London Improvisers Orchestra. Spaces Unfolding has been working since 2021 and is the sophomore album of the trio (and the 50th of the label), following The Way We Speak (Bead, 2022), where the trio hosts Canadian, Huddersfield- based electronics player-composer-eductor , who has collaborated before with Karlsen (Light.Box + Emil Karlsen, The Undanced Dance, Bead, 2023). The album was recorded by Tremblay at Huddersfield University, where Tremblay teaches composition, in December 2023

Shadow Figures, and especially the three-part “In Praise of Shadows”, references the influential essay of Japanese writer Jun’ichirō Tanizaki on traditional Japanese aesthetics In Praise of Shadows (first published in 1933), and mainly about the appreciation of shadow and subtlety. Likewise, the meeting of Spaces Unfolding and Tremblay seeks to explore the shadows within the subtle timbral dialogs of the acoustic instruments of the trio and Tremblay’s electronics, relying on Tremblay’s extensive experience, acute sensitivity, and his unique ability to capture and react quickly to minute timbral nuances and suggest immediate dynamic shifts.

Moreover, Shadow Figures expands Spaces Unfolding examination of the role of acoustics in free improvised contexts. It investigates how Spaces Unfolding acts within an electronic space – literally – and its relation-reflection to technology. The eleven patient and detailed pieces offer how multiple, elusive sonic shadows – augmented, manipulated, processed, disrupted, corrupted, or interrupted by electronics, create and resolve tension, affect and reshape the ambiance but also offer intimate and fruitful connections to the human, acoustic acts and techniques of playing, as well as enriching the perspectives and behavior of the Spaces Unfolding’s musicians. Often, Tremblay’s electronics add an intriguing exotic layer that allures Tanizaki’s essay, especially in the last piece, “In Praise of Shadows Pt. 3”, an intimate yet intense duo with Karlsen.

The dialectic relationship suggests challenging hierarchical sonic structures and questions the musicians’ true degrees of freedom and autonomy. A true free improvised meeting is not about supplying comforting, clear answers, but about exploring and questioning new, uncharted sonic ways while fully immersed in the moment with its full sonic possibilities.

Dominic Valvona (Monolith Cocktail)

Coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the revitalized Bead label, a special challenging site-specific work of non-musical experimentation and evocation from both the Spaces Unfolding trio of flutist improvisor Neil Metcalfe, avant-garde violinist Philip Wachsmann and drummer improvisor Emil Karlsen, and the electronic explorer Pierre Alexandre Tremblay.

In merging their own specialist forms – the acoustic and electronic – both partners on this improvised serialism of avant-garde, textural, atonal and more recognisable sound and instrument sources, expand the sonic palette further towards the abstract, mysterious and near paranormal. “In Praise Of…” and making concrete the otherworldly “Figures” from the “Shadows” this collaboration seems to channel the ominous and a sense of disturbance. The electronic effects, beds and signals set off an uneasy sense of technologies creeping encroachment, its power sources and unseen, near subverted presence.

But the triplet of atmospheric “In Praise Of Shadows” suites is dedicated to and takes its name from the celebrated Japanese titan of provocative literature Jun’ichirō Tanizaki and his notable essay on Japanese aesthetics. Noted for both his shocking depictions of sexuality, of kinks, of the submissive, and obsessions, and subtler portrayals of family life in his native country during a time of upheaval, as modernism took hold, as Imperialism rose and then was crushed and replaced by Westernized consumerism and progress, Tanizaki’s usual schtick was to place characters, affairs against a backdrop of cultural anguish. However, published in the 1930s, In Praise Of Shadows is a little different; made-up of 16 sections (a sample of titles: “The toilet aesthetic”, “A novelist’s daydreams”, “An uncanny silence”), the central theme uses analogies and abstract ideas of light and darkness to depict the comparisons between Western progress and its search for light and clarity with the subtilties and appreciation of the subdued and shadows in East Asian art and literature – or more specifically an appreciation of the Japanese concept of “Sabi”, or “world view”, which is centred around transience and imperfection. There’s far more to it all of course, including, which is very important in this context and as an influence on this recording, a piece on the layered tones of various kinds of shadows and their power to reflect low sheen materials: see the various “Refraction” entitled pieces of textual shadowy play.

I’m not sure if it is intentional or not, but some of the both harder and dulcimer-like plucks on the violin, the whistly aspects and higher pitched flutters of the flute and some of the near-taiko-like thunders of the drums evoke the music of Japan: somewhere between the traditional and the work of Yamash’ta & The Horizon and Farabi Tushiyuki Suzuki. It builds a sort of Oriental mysticism at times, a mysterious atmosphere of shadows, or an estranged Kubuki theatre, and of deeper meanings channelled by the tactile and textured.

At times I’m picking up echoes of Anthony Braxton, the work of Larry Austin, the Giuseppi Logan Quartet, some Sandro Gorli, Alan Sondheim and Fernando Grillo amongst the electrical fields, the sparks of freeform jazz, the scurries, the spidery finger work, restless crescendos, dry fluted chuffs and rasps, and solid thick-stringed pinches and strains. Untamed with moments of reflection, uncertainty, Shadow Figures pitches an environment and its sounds, its unseen wound-up, ratcheted and twisted objects with more skeletal, shaved, sieved and high-pitched avant-garde expressions.

Jan Granlie (Salt Peanuts)

The trio featuring flutist Neil Metcalfe, violinist Philipp Wachsmann, and drummer Emil Karlsen has been working together as Spaces Unfolding since 2021. The trio's debut album, The Way We Speak, was originally conceived as a "vehicle" for acoustic exploration, recorded in the acoustics of St Mary’s Old Church in London. On the new record, the trio is joined by Pierre Alexandre Tremblay on electronics, a musician who facilitates several exciting dialogues between instruments and electronics. "To expand on the original idea of acoustic influence, the trio now finds itself in an electronic environment, which reflects on our relationship with technology," as Karlsen writes on Bandcamp.

We are presented with seven "main tracks," all divided into different sequences, some of which feature Tremblay alongside one of the trio's musicians. The whole result is a beautiful and exciting experience.

It all starts somewhat dark and gloomy with "Shadow Figures Pt. 1 and Pt. 2," featuring deep electronics and fingerpicking on the violin. When I see in the cover that the opening is dedicated to the Japanese author Jun'ichirō Tanizaki, it makes sense. This could just as easily have been created by freely improvising musicians from the "land of the rising sun." Flute and drums enter, and we are drawn into a sort of fairy-tale world where the four musicians explore a musical landscape far from the British Isles, where the trio is based.

As we are confronted with the 11 "stretches," we find ourselves admiring the close, yet open, communication between the four. Notably, we take notice of Karlsen's creative drumming, which is prominently featured in the soundscape. It somewhat surprises me that Karlsen hasn't been invited back home to enrich the contemporary and modern free jazz scene in Norway with his highly creative and exciting playing. His performance here is both creative, thrilling, and extremely interesting.

I’ve never been a huge fan of flute playing in jazz (with some honorable exceptions). But Metcalfe’s playing in this setting is extremely exciting (and it's not straight ahead Jazz that we're served here). Wachsmann is a master of this type of music, and his violin playing here is outstanding and captivating. He adds incredibly interesting contributions to the whole, making this, at times, feel like a sort of musical "round-the-world" journey that's simply to be enjoyed. And with Tremblay’s electronics, the trio’s soundscape is broadened, creating a new depth to the experience that's enriching.

This is a band and project one would ideally want to hear live in a gallery or similar setting. The recording from the University of Huddersfield on December 21, 2023, presents the music in a beautiful landscape where we can dream away in a contemporary and free-improvised setting that is truly fascinating.